Slow
by Deus Ex Sub Ubi
Summary: My first fic- What if Xander's childhood had been a little different?
1. Freedom

Plot Summery: What if Xander's childhood was slightly different? Crossover with Street Fighter  
  
Disclaimer: I own jack shit, and Jack left town, so meh.  
  
Time Frame: BtvS= pre and during Season One, Street Fighter=Trying to follow the SF II V series as best as I can, but borrowing things from SF II- Animated Video and Street Fighter Alpha.  
  
Rating: I'll call this an R for now, for language, themes, and -surprise surprise- VIOLENCE  
  
Author's note: I know that this is a crossover, but filed in the TV show section, frankly, the crossover section annoys me with its massive Harry Potter/ LOTR content, so this fic will come here to be appreciated.  
  
Chapter One: Freedom Sunnydale, Ca. July 9th, 1991 4:37 PM  
  
"USELESS BRAT!"  
  
Those are words that young Xander Harris hears on a regular basis, usually followed by a punch or a kick, or a belt-lashing. Today however, it was followed by Tony Harris punting his ten year old son through the second story window like a football. The younger Harris prepared himself for the pain of this blow, which would be nothing new, the feelings of weightlessness and flight were though, he reopened his eyes to realize that the crashing noise he heard was his body going through the window. Xander dares to look down and noticed the ground rushing up to meet him face first. Feeling nothing remarkable and accepting his fate he closes his eyes and awaits the inevitable. Suddenly, he feels a strong jerk through his entire body and the ground halts its deadly approach.  
  
Wah? Why am I not a pancake? Xander opens his eyes to see an elderly Japanese man holding him by the leg.  
  
**************************************************************************** ** Thirty Seconds earlier...  
  
Gouken was in the park across the street watching his students, Ryu Hoshi and Ken Masters, playing in the park. Such are the joys of childhood, thinks Gouken. His students had just completed their first year under his tutelage and have returned to America for young Ken to visit with his parents. Ryu, as an orphan, had no where else to go and so went with his best friend.  
  
Gouken had been meditating while his pupils were playing with a frisbee. Upon hearing the breaking glass across the street and seeing a boy flying out of it, he reacted with a speed and grace that belied anything a man, yet alone a man of his age, should be able to achieve. Gouken catches the young, black haired boy, smiles to him as he spoke in an accented voice.  
  
"Why, hello there young man. What is your name?" Xander looked up to his savior, who then returned him to his own standard vertical position. "X-x-Xander. Please, don't hurt me." the boy said with a defeated tone. "I am not going to hurt you, my son," Gouken can recognize a visible cringe in Xander's expression at the word 'son', this makes Gouken wish he could pummel the young man's bastard father to death, but he willed such thoughts away, fearing the Dark Hadou. Keeping the child away- Xander, from this cruel environment and possibly training him might be a better idea. The boy did have a high ki for someone his age.. His decision made, Gouken would take Xander as his third pupil. This did present one problem, however-  
  
The crashing sounds coming from the front door revealed Tony Harris with a bottle of Bud Light in one hand and baseball bat in another. With the level of rage befitting the stereotypical American abusive alcoholic, he demands. "Wha da hell ar' you doin' with my boy, grand pa?"  
  
Gouken, momentarily taken aback from the lush's booze induced B.O. replies in a level tone. "Good afternoon, sir. I believe this is the same son you just kicked out of your window. Please, allow me to take him off your hands before your carelessness kills him."  
  
The elder Harris, ever the red-neck, decides to take a crack at the presumably defenseless old man that insulted his child-rearing skills. Tony moves to strike the man with his bat, seeing the move, he pushes Xander behind him and preforms a quick back flip, catching the other man in his glass jaw. Behind him, Mrs. Harris sees this display and cannot move, speak, or do anything remotely intelligent. Gouken composes himself and nods to the woman, she quickly nods back, broken from her stupor. Gouken turns and places a hand on Xander's shoulder. "How would you like to learn how I did that?"  
  
Xander's only reply is a bright lop-sided grin and an enthusiastic nod. "Do we need to leave Sunnydale before you train me, sensei?"  
  
Gouken gave off a chuckle, the boy caught on fast as well as was tough as nails. "I think it would be best, Xander. Don't worry though, you wont be lonely.  
  
Ryu and Ken are my other two pupils, you will train under me and spar with them. We planned on returning to Japan in a few days, until then you are welcome to stay with us at Ken's home."  
  
Xander nodded, but frowned slightly. "Sensei,,, would it be okay if I visited my friend before we left?"  
  
Gouken: "Certainly young man. Quickly, let us go to your friend's." Gouken turns his head towards the park and his two playing students. "Ryu! Ken!" At their teacher's call, both pre-teens halted their game and hurried over to the Harris household. Ryu notices the unconscious and drooling form of Tony Harris and speaks to his master in Japanese. "Well done, Sensei. I sense something vile from that man."  
  
Gouken could not help but smile at the perceptiveness of his prized pupil. "Indeed. Ken, Ryu, I would like you to meet Xander, he will be our newest addition to our school. Treat him with respect and learn from each other."  
  
Ken walked over to the younger boy and extended his arm to shake hands. "Hiya, nice to meet you, Xander! Don't mind Ryu if he doesn't talk much, he is still learning English."  
  
Xander smiled back at the blond haired boy and shook his hand like his teachers taught him to. "It is nice to meet you too." Ryu moves to Xander and the introductions were completed.  
  
"Ken, help Xander get a bag together of things he will need until we return to the school. Ryu, please move that." he points to Tony, "back into the house, away from prying eyes. After that, why don't you and Ryu return to your parents place. Xander and I need to talk about his enrollment and he has to say goodbye to his friend."  
  
All three boys hopped to their tasks. Ryu easily lifts the weight of the overweight former linebacker and brings the lard-ass into the house. Gouken moves towards the still somewhat stunned Mrs. Harris.  
  
"Madam, I wish we could have met under better circumstances, however know that I and my pupils are here to help." The female Harris could only nod to  
  
the short elderly man. "I believe it is best that you contact the authorities and try to remove yourself from this environment as soon as you can. You can trust me with the guardianship of your son until his training his complete."  
  
Mary Harris was broken from her stupor and asked the question that was on her mind while trying to fight back tears. "Why are you taking Alexander away from me?"  
  
Gouken took no pleasure in this and tried to explain his reasoning in a neutral voice. "Madam, regardless if you extricate yourself from this marriage and from that man or not, he has already done massive damage to Alexander's psyche. He may still be a child, but he is highly impressionable at this point in his life, like all boys. He needs a positive influence that does not remind him of his father and he also must conquer any fears he may have of him. Martial arts can accomplish both goals. He realizes this and wishes to train under my guidance. This does not reflect on the love that he must feel for you, it just reflects on his own maturity that he is aware that he must learn to overcome these trials."  
  
After absorbing all the diminutive man said, she nodded again and thanked him for his willingness to help. Gouken gave her his contact information on one of the business cards that Mr. And Mrs. Masters had given him as a gift. The card read: *Himura Gouken, Martial Arts Master*. "From now on, we shall return to America and Sunnydale each summer so you may visit your son. We came here as Ken's parents live here, so there is no need to fear that you will never see Xander again." He gives her one of the Masters' calling cards and Mary nearly fainted as she realizes that Ken is the young heir to the multinational conglomerate, the Masters Corporation. She nods again and thanks the old man.  
  
The boys come out of the run-down house with two bags of Xander's belongings, each with a twinkie in their mouths and sugar-induced smiles spread over their faces. Xander offers Gouken a twinkie. Seeing that this is supposed to be a snack food of some kind, Gouken bites into it and is rewarded with sugary goodness. A smile creeps over the old man's features, all four Street Fighters are now grinning like idiots, awkward situation forgotten and new ties forming. 


	2. Enter Willow, Exit Xander

Author's note: This might take me a while to write, and as much as I'd like to pop chapters out bi-daily, quality could suffer from this. If someone is interested in my train of thought on this and wouldn't mind beta reading, they can AIM me at DeusExSubUbi.  
  
Thanks for the review, keep 'em coming.  
  
Chapter Two: Enter Willow, Exit Xander  
  
Twenty minutes after chapter one.  
  
Xander and Gouken were walking towards the Rosenberg residence at a medium pace, partly due to for all appearances, Gouken was an old man and should not walk faster than 1 mile an hour, another being that Xander is dreading this with every fiber of his body..  
  
Willow has been in his life for as long as he can remember. She was there before the hitting started. Every happy or funny memory he has in his mind has her in it. From yellow crayon breaking Willow to the Willow he conned into watching the Charlie Brown Christmas Special with during the previous Christmas. Her face was as red as her hair from laughing when he showed her the Snoopy Dance. As much as the boy loved her - he knew it was love because she was the only person he felt that strongly about, but would never admit it as it wasn't manly- he knew that he needed Master Gouken's training. When someone saves you from falling face first to death, they make a strong impression in your life. *Like Batman.* Xander muses, stifling a smirk from lurking across his face as he imagined the old man with the cape and cowl on.  
  
Both boys, one old, one young, stood in front of the foreboding house. Xander admired the front yard, where he, Willow and her new neighbor Jesse had a water fight last week. It was so much fun seeing Willow angry and screaming "Prepare to DIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" as she shot at both boys with her super soaker. *Time to suck it up. I can't leave without talking to her.*  
  
Xander walked up to the screen door and knocked. Gouken patted him on the shoulder in an effort to comfort his anxiety. Mrs. Rosenberg opened the door and told Xander that Willow was upstairs reading. Gouken ruffled Xander's hair and started to sit down on the steps. The second he made the move to sit, Sheila beckoned him to have coffee with her. She saw the perfect opportunity to psychologically dissect someone new and she rarely passed that up. She was so engrossed in organizing her subtle question plan she neglected to ask herself what an old Japanese man was doing with a ten year old white boy. Gouken, not suffering from any form of senility, noticed the multiple doctorate plaques on the wall for psychology and braced himself for the coming onslaught...  
  
**************************************************************************** **********************************  
  
Xander crept up the stairs and stood in the hallway for a minute. He took this minute to make sure his eyes weren't watering, that his fly was up, that his ears were clean and his breath not stinky. He knocked on her door, feeling as ready as he would ever be, "EEP! Just a second." was the reply. The door opened to reveal an extremely cute by any standard, ten year old girl with long red hair falling down to her shoulders."Xander!" She squealed, pleased to see her Xander shaped friend. She dragged him over to her bed where a small paperback lie and entered into babble-mode. "Lookit-I- got-a-new-Goosebumps-book-it's-really-scary-it's-about-this-puppet-that talks-an- SNARF!" The sound that cut her off was a twinkie finding its way into her mouth, via Xander's hand. Chewing it she grinned in sugarcoated contentment and looked at Xander. *Xander looks sad, why does he look sad? He never looks sad...* "What's wrong Xander?"  
  
"I'm moving."  
  
Willow's reaction was what Xander was afraid of. It looked as if someone just punched her in the stomach after running over her puppy, putting the car into reverse, running over it again, and then putting it back in drive and running over it once more, at least that is what it would look like if she had a puppy. Right now, she looked crushed, tears starting to swell in her small hazel eyes. Then the question came.  
  
"Why?"  
  
Xander held her in a tight hug and tried his best to explain. "Wills, you know how I sometimes get bruises and stuff and used to say I fell out of a tree or something?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"That's not exactly what happened." Willow dug her head out of Xander's chest and looked up to him not understanding.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"My dad," Holding his head in shame, "he hit me sometimes, sometimes hard, whenever I made a mistake. But that's not gonna happen anymore. Master Gouken found me today, he saved my life."  
  
Willow's brain kicked into overdrive at the new name and started asking questions. "Who's Goo-ken? What did he save you from? Why do you call him Master? Does he drive a batmobile too?"  
  
Xander couldn't help but smile. "Gouken is a nice old dude from Japan, he's amazing. Think Jackie Chan, only really old but just as fast." Sightly darker now, "He saved me from my dad, he kicked me out the window from my bedroom. Master Gouken caught me by my leg before I hit the ground and became a pancake. He knocked out my dad with just ONE kick and then we came here. He doesn't have a batmobile, but I think I can talk him into getting one and the reason why I call him master is that he's going to teach me how to fight and how to live when I go back to his school."  
  
"Oh, ok, so you're still gonna be in Sunnydale, just not with your dad. That's ok." She hugs him, but she doesn't feel him hug back so she looks at his eyes again and understands. "The school isn't in Sunnydale, is it?"  
  
"No, its not. It's in Japan"  
  
Willow's eyes bulged at that. Xander didn't know Japanese, he didn't like sushi much, the only thing that Willow knew that Xander liked that came from Japan was Samurai Pizza Cats and Nintendo. "But-but-but-but you don't KNOW Japanese, or their food or-"Xander's hand tightly held her hand as he cut her off with a goofy grin.  
  
"I guess I'll learn. I can't copy off you forever, Wills."  
  
"I know, but, it's just..." She whispers: "I don't want you to leave me."  
  
Xander moves in to hug his Willow in an effort to reassure her. "I'll always be your Xander. Don't matter if I'm in Japan and start eating rice twinkies or down the street. I'll only be gone for the school year, Ken, Ryu and I will come back here at the end of every training year. Ill send you all of the cool postcards I can find every week. It will fly by, promise."  
  
Willow clung to her Xander as if her life depended on it. After an immeasurable time, she let go and spoke again. "I'm....okay now. I'll miss you Xander Lavelle Harris, but I understand why you gotta go. When do you leave and who are Ryu and Ken?"  
  
Xander smiled his trademark lopsided grins. "I donno, but we can find out in a few minutes. Anyway, Ryu is a Japanese guy like Master Gouken. Ken is Ken Masters. Both are two years older than us, but Ken went to our elementary school." Xander went to her bookshelf and opened up one of her older yearbooks. He tracked down a picture of Ken with a crewcut and a rat tail. and broke out laughing and even pulled off an impromptu snoopy dance. Willow giggled at his foolishness and moved to tickle him, which turned into more of a tickling tackle. After rolling around for a while engaged in mortal combat, the two let up and just looked at each other, grinning. "Thank you."  
  
Willow's face shifted into puzzled mode. "For what?"  
  
"For being you, for being my friend, for understanding why I gotta do this. You're the only good thing to ever happen to me."  
  
"Just make sure you come back with a bunch of comics for me, 'k?" She flashed an impish Willow-grin. "You can always come back here, and I'll always be your Willow. Understand mister?" "Yes ma'am"  
  
The two got up and proceeded downstairs, interrupting Mrs. Rosenberg's interrogation of the elderly Master. "Ah, Xander, is this the Willow you spoke of?"  
  
"Yes sir." Said Xander. Willow moved forward and extended her hand upwards to shake the old man's.  
  
"It is an honor to meet you, young lady. Xander thinks very highly of you. What did he say? 'The awesome-est girl on the face of the planet.'?" Both kids blush and Gouken laughs heartily. "You two can play tomorrow with Ken and Ryu, our flight leaves two days from now so you have plenty of time to say your good byes." Gouken glanced outside and noted the darkness. "Why don't we call this a night? It has gotten late." Gouken estimated the time to be 7:30 or so, early enough for any number of undesirable fiends to start lurking about.  
  
"Ok. We can play water war tomorrow Wills." Xander grinned as Willow's face lit up at the idea of using water weapons of mass destruction on more people than normal.  
  
"Alright! Night, Xander!"  
  
"Night, Wills!"  
  
The males took their leave to settle in for the night.  
  
**************************************************************************** **************************  
  
Departure Time  
  
Yesterday had been the best day in Xander's short life to date. He had two new friends, no more dad beating on him whenever he spilt the milk, or beer, or water, and he had Willow laughing most of the day. They had a water-war, with the winner being Willow -*who'd have thought the little redhead had such good aim with a super-soaker?* was Ken's reasoning for his utter defeat. After that, they went for ice cream, Xander and Ryu managing to get it all over most of their faces instead of their mouths, much to the amusement of Gouken. The day ended with all four kids playing video games at the arcade until Gouken felt it best to get the kids inside. You don't live to be 100 without finding out about the things that lurk about in the night. Gouken knew that he would eventually have to teach his students about this harsh reality, but until then, he did not want to ruin what innocence they had.  
  
Today was much more somber. After Xander confirmed he had Will's address properly memorized as well as her list of comics the day nose-dived into seriousness. Willow accompanied them to the airport with the permission of her parents. After a final baker's dozen hugs from a teary eyed Willow, Xander boarded his flight to the beginning of his fate. 


	3. Getting There

AN: Sorry for the month long absence. School's requested many ritual sacrifices   
  
of my social life and creative talents. Thanks for the reviews, I'll try to keep  
  
the production of this up to speed. Chapter once a week if I can manage it around work.  
  
Chapter Three: Getting There  
  
Highway between Los Angeles and Sunnydale, Ca. USA  
  
August 12, 1996  
  
10:21 PM  
  
20 Miles outside of Sunnydale  
  
Fight's Music:  
  
The Band: Professional Murder Music  
  
The Song: Slow  
  
Author's note2: Amazing song, found it originally connected to a SF music   
  
video made by Otaku Vengeance many moon ago. It fits too well for me not to   
  
use it in this chapter. If you can, I suggest you download the song to   
  
appreciate it, and if you can find it, buy the PMM cd. No disappointment   
  
there. It also doubles as the title for this story, as per I lacked   
  
anything really creative.  
  
*The cliché of 'a dark and stormy night' does not do this setting justice.*   
  
Mused one warrior as he faced the seven foot behemoth in front of him, while   
  
he pondered the irony of the situation. *This joker feels strong, I had best   
  
finish this fast.* The warrior entered a defensive stance that had been   
  
ingrained into his being. He regards his opponent with the utmost intensity   
  
as the environment around him comes alive with thunder and lightning, which   
  
would be playing havoc with the night-vision of many other men. This one, still  
  
but a boy in all but soul, analyzed his opponent for any obvious weaknesses.   
  
The man in front of him was Sagat, a revered Muyi Tae Street Fighter. He was   
  
built like a mac truck, wearing boxing trunks as his fighting attire as well   
  
as an eyepatch over his left eye. He eyed the boy facing him with a certain   
  
amount of trepidation. Sagat spat on the ground, trying to get the   
  
unpleasant taste of having to face a martial artist in battle out of his   
  
mouth, then moved in for the fight.  
  
The figure in blue gi defended against the initial left-right combo with   
  
ease and retaliated with a lightening fast leg sweep, effectively catching  
  
the veteran fighter unprepared as he began to fall. The blue clad Fighter   
  
opened up with a right roundhouse strike to Sagat's ribs while the giant   
  
was trying to regain his balance. Blue Gi followed up with a left hook to   
  
the massive man's still falling jaw and continued with another roundhouse   
  
kick to his diaphragm. Once establishing who's boss, Blue Gi backed off   
  
and looked at the behemoth with disdain. As Sagat caught his breath, his   
  
rage flared and got the better of him. Sagat charged Blue Gi, feinting   
  
with a right jab but goes for a right spin kick that launches Blue Gi   
  
into the cold sand in the desert at night, landing on his butt. *I SO   
  
did not need sand down there. Time to finish this, this guy's breath reeks*  
  
Blue Gi got up again, opting for a standard getting up and not a   
  
fancy-pants jump or rising leg sweep, as to keep the sand down and away   
  
from his eyes. He entered an offensive stance and started to make his way  
  
back to Sagat. Sagat started making a few jabs at his direction which   
  
Blue Gi deafly dodged them all. Blue Gi opened up with three haymaker   
  
punches and then crouched down for his finishing move in this   
  
bout: "RISING DRAGON PUNCH!" A faint white glow encompassed his fist   
  
as he threw a lightning fast uppercut at Sagat, the glow cut his chest   
  
somewhat but the fist landed directly on his jaw, sending the gargantuan  
  
fighter flying, utterly knocked out.  
  
Blue Gi returned to a normal stance and walked over to the car   
  
Sagat was driving, a lovely BMW that screamed "I'm Rich. ROB ME!"   
  
With little guilt in his heart, Blue Gi rummaged through the car   
  
for a few minutes and returned with a few thousand dollars US in cash.  
  
He put that back in his travel sack and started walking the remaining  
  
miles back to his home town, with many thousands of reasons to get there  
  
faster. *I still can't do that move as well as Ken or Ryu, but it worked,  
  
so meh. See you tomorrow, Wills.* Xander thought while humming a jaunty  
  
victory tune. 


	4. Return the Conquering Zeppo

Chapter Four: Return the Conquering Zeppo  
  
The Rosenberg Residence, Sunnydale, Ca  
  
August 13, 1996  
  
9:05 AM  
  
"Uhhhhhhhh arrrrrrrg..." Groaned a sleepy redhead as she woke up from a pleasant slumber, and an even more pleasant dream. She wacked her alarm clock which had been pestering her for the last five minutes. This is her birthday, she should be able to sleep in if she wants to. Begrudgingly, she got out of her bed, took off her Pjs, opting for a housecoat and made her trip to the bathroom. After an extended shower, she dressed and went down stairs to the vacant kitchen. As both of her parents were touring universities this week across state on their newest textbooks. Jesse was away visiting his grandparents, but was supposed to return the next day. Willow was on her own, again. Her parents did, however, compensate her with a new computer and Jesse compensated her with three movie gift certificates. Upon finishing her Wheatabix (The official cereal of BtvS) she decided that she felt up to a day at the arcade, before she treated herself to the newest James Bond movie, something that she'd been curious about from what Jesse had told her about the week before.  
  
Willow walked out of her house and checked the mail. She found a few cards that the return postage indicated that were from family and one card with only her first name handwritten beautifully on it. She reentered her homestead and, curiosity getting the better of her, opened the anonymous card first. She read the beautiful handwriting on the pretty card with interest and admiration.  
  
*Miss Rosenberg, you are cordially invited to attend lunch, the arcade, dinner and the movies with your Xander-shaped friend, who should be standing at your doorstep and doing the traditional knock right...about.....now!*  
  
Knock, Knock Knock Knock, KNOCK KNOCK  
  
*Sincerely, Edna, The poor old woman who he sweet-talked into writing this for him. Happy Birthday dear.*  
  
Blinking once, twice, thrice, Willow dashed for the door with a huge smile on her face. She swung it open and tackled the Hawaiian clad Xander shape. Xander held his ground and moved his rose and chocolate occupied hands behind the redhead as she clung to him, returning her hug as much as his gifts allowed him. Looking down to the newly fifteen year old's green eyes he grinned and spoke. "Heya Wills. What's the what?"  
  
"Oh, you know, the usual. Sex, drugs, rock and roll, all of it's on MTV and I'm home alone watching." She replied slightly miffed but grinned brightly non the less. "But the day's shaping up. How's it going, Sparticus?" She asked as she inclined her head to make eye contact.  
  
"Huh?" Was Xander's expert reply.  
  
Willow smacked him upside the skull for forgetting basic history and decided to drag his forgetful ass back into her house. She plunked him down on the love seat and towered over him, beginning his re-education. . "Sparticus was the conquering Roman gladiator dude a bunch of years ago that every time he fought, he was always victorious. Ok, lemme rephrase that- is your training done for the summer?" Willow sat down next to Xander and awaited his reply.  
  
"Um...Kinda..."  
  
"Kinda? What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, um,, Gouken-sensei died a week ago." Shifting into happy gear, he continued. "Ken and Ryu had already completed his training and were just there to be with him in the end. I should have to go back for another year, but I did my best to learn everything that the guys did. I'm not as good as they are- You should see Ryu now Wills! He's awesome!" Back to the sad topic "He died of old age..." Xander paused for a moment, Willow hugged her oldest friend tightly as he smiled and continued. "Gouken-sensei lived to be 105 years old before he died. He was happy though, and that's what counts."  
  
"Xander..." Willow clung mercilessly to her Xander, trying to comfort him over his loss. He patted her on her back, kissed her forehead and smiled down at her. "I'm okay, Wills. He wouldn't want us to be sad or anything."  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"Yep," Willow moved off of her best male friend, a little zoned out at the news of the cool old man's passing. Xander noticed her expression and then returned to normal goofy mode. Looking around for a flower pot to place his one rose in, Xander found none, and placed it in his mouth. He got up from the love seat, took the cute redhead's hand and pulled her up with him. Spinning her twice he moved in to hold her, as he had seen on the beginning of the TV show Highlander. He spoke with the rose in his mouth with his worst accent. "Ole senorita, I am Carlos from New Mehico," he brought her up to meet her eyes. "I have come here to seduce you and to return you to my blimp lair of love and freedom!"  
  
The cheesy pick-up line achieved its desired effect, Willow's face turned an interesting shade of red which contrasted nicely with her hair. She turned away from her Xander-shaped crush, which earned Xander the two seconds he needed to grab the heart shaped chocolate box. He wrapped his arms around her, chocolate forward and let her notice the box. "Xander! Thank you!" She grinned and opened the box, inhaling three chocolates in that many seconds.  
  
They both sat down on the love seat again, Willow munching on the Canadian Milk Chocolates from the Gagnon family and Xander smiling as she enjoyed them.  
  
"So what did you want to do today birthday girl?"  
  
"Well, Jesse is at his grandparents place until tomorrow so I was thinking about spending the day at the arcade," she looked back at the card. "how did you know?!"  
  
Xander smiled a knowing smile. "I wouldn't be much of a Willow fanboy if I didn't know her head to toe, would I?" She blushed a blush that rivaled her previous one in redness. Xander smirked slightly. "I was thinking maybe a trip to the beach, followed by lunch, then a visit to the favorite arcade where we kick Krusty the Clown's ass, and then I get to treat you to a surprise. Sound good?"  
  
Willow nodded with a patented willow impish grin. "Okay, I'll go grab my swimsuit." When she returned, Xander was waiting for her at the door. She moved down the stairs, beach bag in her hands. Xander moved to open the door and made the 'there it is hand jesture'. "Your chariot awaits milady."  
  
Willow gaped and nearly dropped her bag. A black limousine rested on the side of the road and at the tuxedo wearing driver holding open the passenger door. "XANDER!!" She jumped around and tackled the boy. "You didn't have to, you know."  
  
"I wanted to, besides, I've got some cash to burn now." Willow pulled her combination of 'resolve face' and 'explain now' face, quickly forcing Xander to explain. He moved his hand to the back of his head and started to shyly scratch. "I, uh, kinda won a competition before coming back, so don't worry about the cash today. C'mon, don't wanna make Alfred wait hey?"  
  
Willow gave her Xander one last squeeze and let go, dragging him into the limo. Alfred introduced himself and casually drove to the beach, letting the two childhood friends catch up. 


End file.
